A dozen volunteers converged upon his Rollingwood Drive home to make needed exterior and interior repairs for the man who served his country from inside a submarine.

Dornik, 67, was selected by Rebuilding Together Solano County, a local group which focuses on renovating homes for individuals identified as low-income or on a fixed income.

Dornik, a Navy veteran, served six years during the Vietnam conflict.

"This is great," Dornik said, tearing up until Elizabeth Hoffman, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Solano County, gave him a hug.

Hoffman said that much of the work centered around painting the exterior of the home, improving the condition of the back yard, installing a handrail to the front porch, fixing the fences and repairing the master bathroom by fixing the fixtures and re-tiling the floor.

Volunteers had already been at Dornik's home the previous weekend repairing the guest bathroom, which also suffered from dry rotted floors.

"The only thing that was really holding up the toilet was the pipe," he said incredulously of the home that was originally built in 1954.

Dornik probably was the only homeowner on the block Thursday who had an individual standing in a hole inside the front room.

Mark Nichols worked to repair a beam underneath the floor which was destroyed by termites and dry rot.

Nichols, a recycling supervisor with Recology and a director on the Rebuilding Together Solano County Board of Directors, said that the damage to the floor beam was "not too bad."

Nichols, a licensed contractor, said that he "absolutely enjoys" helping out with renovation projects.

Hoffman said that various group members offered to help make the repairs to Dornik's home.

"We have the Home Depot donating supplies, members from Travis Air Force Base and veterans helping out," she said. "We even have two students from Upward Bound here."

Upward Bound is a program designed to help high school students learn necessary skills to be successful in higher education.

"This is a great volunteer opportunity in the community," said Brain Crawford, who is stationed at Travis Air Force Base. "The Air Force is high on volunteer opportunities and what you can do to help veterans."

In front of Dornik's house, a gray garbage container sat along with more than 20 bins for recycling, garbage and yard waste.

A new coat of paint changed the color of the house from a gold/yellow color to a greenish/gray color.

"It's just great," Dornik said as he looked at the new color of his home. "It's amazing because they painted the whole house in a day — by hand."

Despite all the help from the volunteers and Rebuilding Together Solano County, Dornik did have one pressing concern.